"In the past, children could never eat their fill and often had to help their families with labor. The whole family faced survival issues. There was simply no time for anything else."
"But now we lack for nothing, and children don't need to experience hardship too early."
"They can play freely, learn, and experience all kinds of interesting things to satisfy their natural curiosity, just like... just like..."
Taber thought for a long time but couldn't find the right words.
"Just like a child should," Levi finished for him.
Taber was stunned. Yes. Wasn't this exactly how a normal child's ideal life should be? This is what a child should have from birth... a happy childhood.
"Just like a child should." Taber repeated the phrase, tasting the simple truth of it.
With assignments graded and tasks completed, the two began discussing other matters. Recent developments, plus some teaching strategy issues. Such as the "classification" system within the school.
Based on age and learning progress, the school was temporarily divided into elementary, intermediate, and advanced classes.
Elementary classes mainly taught basic, practical knowledge: arithmetic, literacy, and common sense, while also beginning to cultivate good moral habits.
Intermediate classes began covering law and more advanced writing skills.
Advanced classes built on intermediate learning. At this stage, students could choose skills that interested them for targeted training to become professionals in various fields.
This was the preliminary plan currently being implemented at Roadside Keep's school. Future developments and details, like choosing specialized teachers and selecting and compiling textbooks, would progress alongside the school's growth.
Everything needed time for verification.
Having inspected the short-term results of both the new school and barracks, Levi rushed to the agricultural planning area to plant new crops.
Splash.
Buckets of water poured into freshly dug trenches, the necessary environment for growing sugarcane. Characteristic sugarcane retained its requirement for proximity to water; it could only be planted adjacent to water sources.
Under Levi's lightning-fast digging, the new sugarcane cultivation area was soon established. The large batch of sugarcane brought back from Dale's developed fields was planted row by row next to water channels, beginning their growth.
After planting, Levi thoughtfully covered the water ditches to prevent anyone from accidentally falling in. The residents' labor projects had gained another task.
Following sugarcane came grapes. Grape cultivation didn't differ much from ordinary crops, except that besides moist soil, they needed grape trellises for climbing support.
The agricultural area's crop variety grew daily richer. Each of these two crops would bring numerous changes to the lands west of the Misty Mountains.
Sugar needed no explanation, an extremely important seasoning whose sweetness alone could raise residents' happiness by a level, not to mention other uses.
Then there were grapes. Besides adding another daily food option, wine could finally be produced at Roadside Keep. And raisins too.
"Dorwinion..."
In the wine cellar, Levi tasted newly brewed wine, then drank a cup of Dorwinion wine. Comparing the two, he found each had its merits.
One had to admit, Dorwinion's millennia-old industry truly had substance, worthy of being a nation famous worldwide for its wine. For Levi, brewing wine was just a hobby brought by the brewing system, but for Dorwinion, it was their lifeline and development.
One could only say they deserved to be the nation that had conquered all elven palates with wine since the First Age. Their long existence wasn't without reason.
Setting down his cup, Levi went to Roadside Keep's southeastern side. The original smithy was built here.
From the surface, it looked like an ordinary smithy with a few furnaces and anvils, plain and unremarkable, especially compared to the various outstanding buildings around it. Anyone would think this smithy had been abandoned.
But how could such observers imagine that beneath this smithy lay an extremely vast underground space containing various massive smelting furnaces and forging stations, where rows of dwarven steel furnace groups lay dormant?
Next to the huge smelting chamber were brewing facilities and raw material cultivation areas that could mass-produce various potions when necessary.
But Levi hadn't come for brewing or metallurgy this time. He pulled out his pickaxe, continued digging down, opened another huge space, and planted... cacti.
Cacti seemed useless at first glance, only good for burning into dye or keeping as ornamental houseplants. But that was under normal circumstances. Once standardized with their special properties, they could do much more.
Like serving as trash disposal. Blockified cacti could destroy any items dropped on them as "dropped items," just like lava, unless the item had physical form. They could serve as trash stations, though the territory already had lava disposal sites, making cacti unnecessary.
However, beyond these properties, cacti had another special use for Levi, and only for Levi: creating "experience farms."
These experience farms mainly relied on furnace smelting mechanics. Using furnaces to smelt items gave small amounts of experience. The more smelted, the more experience gained.
This experience would remain stored in the furnace until the smelted items were removed. In other words, by continuously feeding items into the furnace while automatically outputting finished products, experience could be accumulated infinitely.
When needed, just stop the furnace's output and manually remove the latest smelted item to obtain all previously accumulated experience.
All this required was two hoppers: one inputting raw materials and one outputting finished products, with experience continuously accumulating in the process.
One setup's efficiency might not be high, but its strength lay in automation. Build more, increase efficiency proportionally. Experiencing freedom would no longer be a dream. Once the experience farm was complete, the territory would achieve enchantment freedom. Everyone would have good equipment.
So what was the connection between experience farms and cacti? This is related to cactus properties.
Cacti had environmental requirements. No other blocks could surround them, or they'd immediately break and become drops. Using this property, just place an obstacle beside the cactus's top. When it grew, it would automatically drop, achieving simple automated harvesting.
Then just add a simple water flow collection system below for fully automated cactus farming.
Laying sand on the ground, planting cactus, and positioning obstacles, Levi felt inexplicably moved at this moment. Not easy, truly not easy.
Cactus farms were among the few automation projects that didn't require complex redstone machinery. Even the powered rails needed could be replaced with gears. After so long, finally something that could truly be idle for production.
Today Roadside Keep's lord remained nowhere to be seen. But he hadn't left the territory.
Levi was underground, building cactus farms layer by layer. When space ran out, he excavated more. When materials ran low, he went up to get them.
Now the experience farm's raw material problem was solved, but fuel remained an issue. This was also manageable.
Levi went up and built a charcoal production machine near the lumber warehouse, then used numerous hoppers to connect charcoal storage chests to the underground experience farm's fuel supply.
Raw wood for charcoal production would be supplied by residents. This could barely qualify as semi-automation.
From now on, all territory weapons would bear the lord's magical enhancements. Every mature soldier would advance carrying the lord's blessing.